


Semper Fi

by evil_lil_angel



Category: Fallout 4, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Destroy Ending, Established Relationship, Fish out of Water, Fluff and Smut, Illnesses, M/M, Mentions of past injury, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Peaceful Minuteman ending, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:54:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25707010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evil_lil_angel/pseuds/evil_lil_angel
Summary: What happens when two worlds collide? The Commonwealth is about to find out.
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard, Paladin Danse/Male Sole Survivor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	1. Not so usual day in the Commonwalth

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I have been sitting on this fic for almost two years and finally got the courage to post it :D I originally got the idea for this when playing Fallout 4 and Mass Effect 3 back to back and had a sudden 'what if...' moment.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!

_My breath billowed out in white puffs in the chilly, dank air. Teeth rattling and body still thawing from my frozen imprisonment, I crawled, stumbled and dragged myself across the narrow yet never ending distance that separated my pod from my wife. It felt like an eternity of panicking as I finally got the other pod to open... only to find it empty._

_The vault turned dark and hot, I could barely draw breath. Every intake seared at my lungs and dried my throat worse than the Sahara. Someone stood behind me. I’d know Danse’s presence anywhere. He was standing so close to me. I knew if I could reach back I could take his hand in mine. My muscles refused to obey the commands my brain was screaming at them. The air burned my lungs ever worse as it wheezed through my lips. My pulse pounded in my head and the blood roared in my ears._

_Nora stood in front of me, eyes glassy, dead. A trickle of blood ran down her face from the bullet wound on her forehead. The droplets fell on our son, our baby Shaun, staining his blue blanket in ruby red._

_“It’s your fault. You killed us.” Her hollow voice pierced at my ears simultaneously screeching and hushed. I tried to scream, cry, pray for forgiveness. Anything at all. I had no voice in this darkness. I could barely take a breath._

_“You could have saved us all.”_

_Shaun, Father, accused next to her._

_“You did this to us... ” He crumpled into dust._

_Icy hands closed around my throat burning my skin. I couldn’t breathe. Danse stared at me with dead eyes from behind Nora._

_I couldn’t breathe._

_I couldn’t..._

*

I started awake from my nightmare gasping and coughing as if I’d been actually strangled. A sudden, violent wave of nausea had me flying out of bed, scrambling and crawling to a bucket in the corner. I barely made it before I threw up my last night’s dinner.

Amidst my retching I was dimly aware of Danse hastily getting out of bed and coming to my side. I could feel a warm, gentle hand on my back starting to rub soothing circles between my shoulder blades.

Once I had emptied the contents of my stomach and stopped heaving and coughing, I weakly pushed the bucket away from me and collapsed backwards against Danse. My mind was hazy and I could have fallen back to unconsciousness so easily but I resisted. And God bless the man holding me, he didn’t enquire, didn’t say a word but simply wrapped his arms tighter around me protectively and hugged me closer.

This wasn’t the first time I had had this particular dream and probably wouldn’t be the last. It wasn’t a first time I had woken to empty my stomach after it either.

We must have sat there on the floor for a good half an hour before I felt my mind clear and made an effort to get up. Danse released his hold on me as I sat up straighter. Danse got up first keeping quiet as he held out his hand to me to help me up. However, despite Danse’s silence I could hear the questions and concern he wouldn’t give voice to.

“I’m alright Danse, considering.” I said reassuringly as I reached up to caress the ex-paladins bearded cheek. Gentle strokes I knew he appreciated.

I wasn’t exactly lying. Once my initial nausea and hazy dizziness had passed I felt better than I had in weeks. I didn’t immediately feel weak or light headed while standing and I wasn’t likely to throw up anytime soon again either. My bones ached but the ache was my ‘not so new’ constant companion now anyway.

Maybe today I could get by without having to rely on chems, stims and whatever else Curie cooked up to help me with. I would just have to take it easy and I would be fine and dandy. I was positive and that put me on almost jovial mood.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Danse asked with a hushed tone. Maybe it was because he worried or maybe he didn’t want to disturb the early morning peace that had settled over us. I smiled at him warmly but shook my head no.

“No. No amount of talking makes the dreams go away. You know that.” Danse furrowed his brow at me but nodded anyway.

I leaned in smiling to give a small kiss on his cheek before walking out of our bedroom alcove to the open plan room and my desk at the opposite end. I stopped to admire the rising sun reflecting off of the Concord river, the brilliance of it nearly blinding. It still struck me that even in the middle of this decaying, radioactive mess of a world of mine, there was still such beauty.

Danse followed me and stopped to reach up and push my sleep tousled hair off my forehead.

“Get dressed, I’ll get you some coffee.” I followed Danse with my gaze as he headed downstairs. When he had walked out of my sight I took a seat at my desk. Leafing through the reports from the settlements and farms across the Commonwealth I listened as the door downstairs opened and Danse greeting Dogmeat as the dog padded inside and headed straight for the stairs. I looked down when I felt a furry head on my knee and smiled as my gaze met my dogs intelligent brown eyes. Scratching Dogmeats ears I lost myself in the reports and the early morning noises of awakening Sanctuary outside my windows.

I started back into reality as Danse set a tray of breakfast and pile of clothes on the desk in front of me. I’d clearly lost track of time completely. I glanced down at softly whining Dogmeat before looking up at Danse. He was frowning worriedly at me.

“Try to eat a little, babe. Alright?” I could tell from Danse’s tone he wanted to voice his worries again but stayed quiet, only touching my shoulder lightly. I put my own hand on top of Danse’s to keep it there a while longer as I scrutinized the provided breakfast. Coffee, purified water, bread and fruit. It wasn’t much but eating it felt daunting none the less. My appetite had withered to almost non-existent months ago.

“Is Shaun up?” I released my hold on Danses hand and started ripping small pieces off the fresh bread.

“It would seem he’s already out.” I nodded my acknowledgment and Danse bent down to kiss the top of my head before he slipped away and headed back downstairs. 

I surprised myself as I managed a few bites of my bread and a whole two mutfruits before I stood up and dressed in the simple dark jeans and a blue t-shirt that someone, most likely Piper, had stitched to say 111 at the back in bold, bright yellow numbers. Much like the vault suits though the blue was darker than the monstrosity that we had had to wear.

As I was tightening my belt, I became aware of a low hum that grew to a loud rumble every passing second. I looked around myself though I knew the sound was coming from outside. The noise grew from a hum to a roar to a painful screeching then suddenly silenced as it was followed by a massive boom from somewhere to the East.

The following tremors rattled the little robot models and bobble heads off their perches on the shelfs. 

There was a smaller, less loud crash from downstairs as Danse must have fallen off his usual seat at the bar while having his own breakfast.  
I would have found it funny but my attention was drawn by the commotion outside. I snatched Danse’s bomber jacket off the nearby chair and drew it on as I hurried downstairs. Danse met me at the bottom of the stairs rubbing at his elbow.

“What was that?” He demanded as we hurried to the door.

“I don’t know but whatever it was it sounded like it crashed somewhere to the East near Tenpines Bluff, or right at it... that worries me.” As we stepped outside, half of Sanctuary, including MacCready, Piper and Deacon were already waiting for us at the porch steps.

“Blue! Did you see that? It was huge!” Piper managed until everyone started talking over each other, trying to explain to me what they saw. It took me good ten minutes to try and calm everyone down or at least stay quiet until Danse raised his voice at them and told them to stay silent. 

It took me another ten minutes to convince all the people not to worry and go back to their duties and chores of the day. The settlers all trickled back to work leaving me with my son, Danse and our friends.

“Come inside guys.” I urged and went ahead. I lead the way to two couches sitting in the opposite corner of my ever growing personal library. I made sure Shaun went to his room and everyone else was seated before I finally addressed them properly.

“We need to go and see what it was... I’m worried about Zimonja and Tenpines Bluff.” I could see Danse frown next to me but I ignored his worry for now.

“But before we do anything, Piper... you said you saw it?” Everyone turned their attention to Piper as she nodded enthusiastically at me.

“I saw it for a moment but it looked like the old... what did you call it? Aeroplanes? Yeah that, only this was intact and flying!” she explained gesturing wildly with her hands, nearly giving Deacon a black eye, the spy amicably dodged the would-be-blows, a thoughtful expression on his face. I could feel my eyes widen and my heartrate picked up. A shiver went through me but I didn’t interrupt for now as Piper described the plane the best she could.

“More like falling if you ask me... if it was flying it wouldn’t be crashing.” MacCready quipped in.

“Flying or falling it doesn’t matter. All I know that it was a plane and it was bigger than the BoS tin can at the airport!” Piper bickered right back.

“That’s preposterous. No flying machine today is bigger than the Prydwen.” Danse barked before I could put a word in. He wasn’t too quick to defend the Brotherhood and its actions now days but I knew he still felt pride to have been a part of something. To stand for something. He was a part of the Minutemen now and followed our principals to a T, but I knew that sometimes Danse still missed the strict rules and order that reigned in the Brotherhood.

I had put the Minutemen through some rigorous military training with Danses help some time ago but we were still considerably more lax than the BoS.

“Did you see it soldier boy? No....but I did and I say it was bigger.” Piper glared at Danse, challenging him to prove otherwise. Before their bickering could escalate Nick thankfully came between them.

“Bigger or not that’s not the main issue here is it, people?”

“Nick’s right. If it is a plane as Piper says. I want to know where it came from and what they want. And if it is not a plane we need to find out what exactly we are dealing with.” I nodded my thanks to Nick for stepping in and received an answering nod.

“Danse, Deacon and MacCready I want you ready in ten minutes. We need to check on-“ I was cut off as the ham-radio on the kitchen counter crackled to life.

“General? General this is Molly, are you there?” I recognised the voice of the leader from Tenpines Bluff. She sounded uneasy to me, distressed even. Danse went to the radio and flipped the switch to talk to her.

“This is Danse. Are you alright?” I went to stand next to him and listened as Danse kept his voice calm but commanding as always. It seemed to take Molly a moment before she realized who she was talking to until she continued.

“Something fell off the sky little ways North-West from here. I can see a lot of smoke and dust rising up. I didn’t dare to send anyone to investigate until contacting the General.”

“A wise move. Did you see what it was?”

“No, we were all having breakfast inside”

“I see...” I watched on as Danse frowned at this.

“Should I send Steven to investigate it? I’m not too keen on sending my boy to a danger zone, but he is fast.” Molly sounded unsure but she seemed determined to do all she could to help the Minutemen as she and her husband had promised the first time I had met them nearly two years prior.

I pictured in my mind the lively youngster the couple had sort of adopted. I wasn’t sure sending a kid to potentially deadly situation was wise, but Steven, who hadn’t yet turned sixteen had proven to be quick of mind as well as on his feet some time ago when his home had been threatened by raiders.

I gave Danse the okay who in turn instructed Molly to send the boy.

“Tell him not to do anything foolish. We are on our way.”

“Thank you.” Danse stepped away from the radio and regarded me disapprovingly as we walked upstairs and to the weapon racks mounted on the wall. Everyone else had already gone to do as I wished so it left the two of us alone along with Dogmeat and Shaun who hadn’t left his room.

“I know what you’re going to say, but I am coming with you. I am the leader to these people and I’m not an invalid, Danse.”

“No, but you are ill. Terminally.” I sighed. Wasn’t that the truth. I knew my smile was saddened as I turned to Danse. The pain in his eyes forced me to look away quickly. 

“Yes I am.” I answered simply hoping my voice wouldn’t betray my own pain and sadness. I said no more as I fastened the leather straps of my light armour across my chest and picked up my prized, military grade sniper rifle off the wall. Danse sighed knowing there was no arguing with me in this and started armouring up as well.

“At least take some of the meds Curie gave you...” I nodded at that as I strapped a combined pistol and knife holster to my right thigh. Out of habit, ingrained into me in my army days I checked my weapons twice and finally turned to fully face Danse.

“Ready?” I asked and Danse smiled what felt like a first time in forever.

“Always.”

*

The trek to Tenpines Bluff wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. We stayed to the roads as much as we could for it was easier for me to walk on semi-even pavement instead of cutting straight through the forests and fields as I would have previously.

Four months ago a jog through such a rough terrain wouldn’t have been too much of a problem for me, but as my illness started to progress rapidly my aches, fatigue and overall sickness became constant companions in my every day, making me weaker and slower than I’d ever been before.

The frustration and anger of my situation made me push myself harder and further than I probably should have, but finally after an hour as we neared the settlement I had to admit defeat and take a little breather.

Deacon offered me a canteen of water which I accepted with a quiet thank you. As I rested, MacCready scouted a little ways ahead to make sure everything stayed peaceful and Danse stayed ever within arms reach. 

The silent overbearing mother-hen act made me angrier still and yet I loved him more than ever just then.

Dogmeat never strayed from my side either.

The care and love my companions displayed was almost overwhelming on best of days but at this moment, it was almost unbearable. What had I done to deserve such unwavering loyalty and devotion I would never guess. I was grateful for the distraction of MacCready jogging back to us with Steven in tow.

I rose from my seat on top of a crumbling stonewall to greet them.

“General!” Steven grinned and gave me a casual salute. I smiled and gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

“The thing’s about fifteen minutes North-East from here.” Steven pointed and I looked to the indicated direction and could indeed see billowing dust cloud trailing up to the sky as Molly had noted.

“I didn’t go too close. I only saw it from the top of the hill. It’s massive I tell you. Nothing I’ve ever imagined! I had to hightail it though. I think I heard supermutants and wasn’t about to risk of becoming the ugly bastards lunch.”

“You did good. Thank you. Now get back home so Molly won’t worry too much alright?” I clapped the youngsters shoulder before Steven took off with another mock salute which made me smile again despite everything going on.

“Supermutants are bad news.” Deacon grumbled grimly as he checked his rifle. The mention of the mutants put every one of us on edge. Especially this close to three of our settlements.

“When those filth are not bad news?” Danse’s voice dripped of the loathing he felt for the green skinned monstrosities. I gave him a sympathetic look, being momentarily reminded of the story of Cutler Danse had entrusted me with so long ago.

“Let’s go. Maybe it’s a random two or three and not a whole herd of them. I don’t like the idea of them roaming around our settlements.” My words came out as more of a sigh than anything else and I readied my own rifle before heading in the direction of this mystery vehicle.

As we came closer to the crest of the hill I suspected the fallen plane was behind I could hear the unmistakable bellows of supermutants and gunfire. When we finally scrambled to the top, the noise of the fighting had seized. I gestured silently to the others to fan out and take cover. Only Dogmeat stayed at my heel.

When I finally laid my eyes on this supposed “plane” I couldn’t supress a little huff of equal surprise and wonder that escaped me.

The vessel was indeed unlike anything I or anyone else could have ever imagined. I’d never seen anything so advanced and I had seen a lot of technology both before the war and after in the institute. The institute especially. Nothing compared to the sleek beauty of the downed vessel in front of me now.

As far as I could tell, Piper had been wrong about the size. This ship and Prydwen were roughly the same size lengthwise but where Prydwen was bulkier and with maximum speed roughly 85 miles per hour, this vessel was clearly built for extreme speeds with it’s aerodynamic hull and wings with what I could only assumed were engines. Two on each wing. The shape reminded me of a dart. The wings, if you could even call them that, were further back and smaller than any plane of its size would rightfully have. The “engines” would have been too big and on the wrong side of the wing no less. The oddities aside I couldn’t help but admire the intricate alien beauty of the vessel. The silver, blue and white colours gleamed at me in the sunlight that filtered through the still lingering dust and smoke clouds. The black block letters boldly announced the magnificent vessels name.

NORMANDY.


	2. Crashed where now?

“You know you could put some clothes on, Major Bareass. It’s the middle of the day.”

I suppressed my laugh as I turned to regard John Shepard, my ‘thinks-he’s-very-funny’ fiancé, over my shoulder as I lay in the middle of our bed.

“It’s admiral Bareass to you. Besides, I’m still off duty so you can’t say shit.” I grinned at him, rolling over on my back and leaned on my elbows.

“If you don’t like my ass you should have told me years ago.” John tore his eyes away from my bare body to answer my amused stare. Grinning, he shrugged away from the wall he was leaning on at the top of the steps and came down to the living area, stopping at the foot of the bed.

“Oh, I love your ass. But as it happens, unlike you I’m still on duty and you are distracting me.” Shepard lowered his voice to near purr as he got down on his knees on the mattress. He crawled over me and up my body, placing feather light kisses on my legs, hips and stomach.

“Is that so?” I laughed as I shifted to support myself on one arm only so I could run my fingers up Johns neck and jaw.

“Mm-hm.” he hummed and finally touched his lips to mine. I answered his kiss with intent.

“M’be ’m doin’ it on purpose.” I mumbled against his lips. Urging him to deepen the kiss, I opened my mouth for his tongue. John pressed closer to me willingly as I knew he would. He ran his fingers through my already messed up hair as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. A sigh escaped me as he pressed his clothed erection against mine. 

I had every intention to keep John in our bed for the remaining hour that I was off duty. He would never admit it but he needed a break from his growing workload and I was going to damn well give him one.

We were suddenly and very rudely interrupted by Joker through the comm systems.

_“We’re approaching the relay, Commander. Traynor asked to see you in the CIC._ ” John sighed dejectedly against my neck before answering our snarky pilot. 

“Thank you, Joker. I’ll be right down.” He gave me an apologetic smile and a peck on the lips. 

“He has impeccable timing in killing the mood doesn’t he.” 

“That he certainly does. He really should start addressing you as Captain though.” Amusement and annoyance warred inside me as I got off the bed after John and started searching for my uniform. So much for a de-stressing afternoon. I could feel Johns eyes follow me as I went and that told me he was regretting this interruption at least as much as I did. I grimaced as I put my still too tight uniform trousers on. 

“Somehow I don’t see that happening anytime soon.” We both knew old habits die hard and the crew had called John ‘Commander’ for so long it was unlikely they would learn to use his actual current rank in casual conversation. To them, John Shepard would always be their Commander and in a way, he would always be that for me as well, I knew that much. 

I dressed quickly and tried to finger-comb my unruly curls into submission. Unsuccessfully, as expected. I huffed and turned to John. 

“You go on. I need to tackle this.” I pointed at the mess, making John grin and reach out to muss it into an even bigger mess. 

“Sam can wait for a moment, I have to check my terminal anyway.” He said, still grinning and walked to his desk. I shook my head, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth on my way to the bathroom. 

* 

When we finally stepped out of the lift into a relatively quiet CIC, Traynor nearly tackled John, clearly upset about something. 

I left them to it, turning my attention to the men and women working at their stations. During the Reaper war and especially the very final days of it, the room had showed the barely controlled chaos and stress even when we had not been in any immediate danger. The calm professional, almost but not quite relaxed way people went about their work now was a welcome sight to me. 

“...to me Commander, the relay is acting irregular.” I turned my attention back from the galaxy map I had been staring at to specialist Traynor and John midsentence finally listening in. 

“I know you are rarely wrong Traynor. But Joker wouldn’t approach the relay if everything wasn’t all right.” John smiled at the very clearly upset specialist. 

“I hope you’re right Commander. But I really think we should report it at least.” I watched her sigh and go back to her duties muttering at being incinerated mid-jump. John smiled at her before turning back to me. 

“Everything alright?” 

John gave me a little nod and a smile before heading to the cockpit to talk to Joker and EDI who had begun our final approach to the relay. 

I watched him go for a moment before I hit the elevator call button. I didn’t get to step into the elevator however, for as the doors opened, the whole ship jumped under us and I was thrown inside instead. I lept back to my feet in a second. The Normandy was rattling as if bombarded with asteroids. Or as if we had been attacked-. 

That thought got me moving and I took off after John. 

When I reached the cockpit, John was holding on to the pilot chair and arguing with Joker who, judging by his voice, was slightly panicking. 

“I can’t stop the approach even if I wanted to! And believe me, I want to!” 

Normandy was thrown again and I was forced to hold on to Johns shoulders to stay on my feet. 

“EDI!” John turned his attention to the AIs robotic body in the co-pilot seat but got no answer. 

“EDI, talk to me!” He didn’t receive an answer and then it was too late. We went through the relay. 

If anyone would ask me, I would say almost preferred the collector attack as opposed to going through a faulty relay. The ship shook and rattled as if it and everything else around us would come apart. I felt like my skin would come off and I could taste iron in my mouth. It took all of my self-control to rein in my biotics so they wouldn’t react to the intense pain. The jump was over in seconds but it felt like a couple of eternities. The Normandy was hurled to the Sol system with such force that anyone who were still on their feet, John and myself included, were knocked down. 

“Shit! How did..!? This isn’t possible!” I was about to demand what wasn’t possible but I got my answer as I happened to glance out into space through the forward windows. We were hurtling towards Earth. So close in fact that no space beyond Earth was visible to me. Somehow the relay had thrown us ten times closer to the planet than it was supposed to. 

Joker was furiously trying to steer the ship away but I could tell that next to nothing was responding to his commands and he only managed to slow the decent some. Evidently EDI was still offline and it seemed she had taken most of Normandy’s systems down with her. Joker threw an uncharacteristically panicked look John’s way and seemed to lose all hope. As the Normandy entered the atmosphere John moved hitting the comms. 

“Brace for impact!” He roared at the crew, dragged Joker off his chair none too gently, and tackled me to the floor as well. 

* 

When I came to, the first thing I became aware of was the fire alarms going off. The second was a pounding pain at my forehead and left brow. I let out an involuntary groan as I shifted so I could press my hand against my throbbing forehead. It seemed during the crash I managed to bang my head magnificently hard on the cockpit floor despite already being pinned down by John. 

The thought of the crash and John cleared the haze from my mind and I whipped my head towards the man who to my surprise was already halfway on his feet. My gaze met the concerned blue and my fear of Johns well-being lessened marginally. 

I took the hand John offered and got to my feet in one fluid motion. Only now I noticed the blood that was slowly seeping from the cut on my brow. I pressed my palm against the cut in an attempt to staunch the bleeding, watching as John helped Joker back into his seat. Ignoring my starting migraine I glanced around taking stock of our surroundings. Some of the consoles were short-circuiting and smoking but from where we were standing it seemed the ship wasn’t damaged too badly. The real extent was impossible to tell from the cockpit of course. 

“Shepard.” I jumped in surprise as EDI suddenly stood up from her seat next to me and regarded John calmly. 

“What the hell happened!?” Shepard demanded immediately. 

“Good question. One moment it was green across the board and the next, BAM, the relay goes berserk.” Joker complained from his seat, clearly in pain. He must have broken a bone or two. 

“Traynor said she was getting strange readings from the relay, didn’t she?” I said and watched John give withering looks to the AI and pilot alike. 

“Well EDI didn’t. I’m more inclined to believe in quantum computing than one woman. No offense to Sam.” 

“Nothing indicated that the relay would malfunction. It was running at full capacity as we were approaching. I see now that I should have given miss Traynor’s worries more consideration and recalculated.” EDI explained patiently as was her way.  
“Why were you offline?” I asked lowering my hand off my forehead and went to check on Joker. 

“I’m afraid I have no answer to that at this time, Admiral Alenko.” I glanced at the AI. Was that worry in her voice? 

“Well get to the bottom of this ASAP. Meanwhile we need to check on the crew. And where we ended up at.” John ordered while trying to see out the grime covered forward windows. 

“Boston, Massachusetts.” EDI answered with no hesitation. We all stared at her in disbelief. My migraine really kicking into gear now. Or was it just a regular headache caused by the blow? Maybe both so I shrugged my pain from my mind the best I could. 

“Are you telling me I crash landed the Normandy in the middle of the metropolis of Boston!?” Joker near shrieked seemingly regretting his outburst immediately. 

“Coordinates suggest we are couple miles off of historic district of Concord.” EDI confirmed. 

“Then why is it all I see is hills and forest?” John asked rising his eyebrow at the AI before shaking his head. 

“Figure out what’s going on while you get him to Chackwas. We’ll see to the rest of the crew.” He gestured to Joker before touching my shoulder lightly. 

“Yes, Shepard.” EDI answered and went to help Joker gently to his feet. 

I followed Shepard swiftly through the CIC, helping the crew back to their feet as we went. There were small cuts and bruises but nothing major. Shepard punched the elevator call button as Sam approached us. 

“Commander, what’s going on? What happened?” She asked, rubbing her elbow, no doubt having banged it on something. I checked her over for other injuries as John answered her. 

“I don’t know Sam. Not yet. EDI’s on it. Make sure everyone’s alright and you get on it too. We need to know what we’re dealing with here. Don’t worry. Everything’ll be fine.” He patted her shoulder reassuringly. 

“Yes, Commander.” Sam straightened, saluted, and went to her duties. I watched her go as I stepped into the elevator after John. 

“I hope the drive core’s not damaged.” Shepard said as nonchalantly as if he had just commented on the weather but he was worrying his lower lip with his thumb and I knew he was very worried. 

“If there is any damage at all we could be in real trouble. EDI says we are in Boston but I don’t know.” I frowned as I stepped out of the lift on the crew deck and nearly got trampled by Garrus. I sidestepped the turian and crashed into John instead. He steadied me and regarded Garrus. 

“What’s with the mad dash Garrus?” 

“Tali’s in engineering and I need to check on her.” He said as he stepped into the lift John and I following him back in. 

“Everything alright on this deck?” I asked and Garrus gave us a curt nod. 

“Chackwas scraped a knee and Adams twisted his wrist but otherwise no casualties aside from a bump or two....what’s going on Shepard?” 

John tapped a button for deck four before answering Garrus’ question. 

“So far all I know is we went through a relay, it went haywire and we presumably crashed in Boston.” He explained. Garrus accepted it with another nod before we all stepped out at deck four heading straight for the core. We met Tali, Gabby and Ken at the door and as soon as Tali noticed us she spun around and stopped us from entering the room. 

“Shepard!” she exclaimed and John, clearly relieved to see our engineers and Tali safe gave a tight smile. 

“Tali. What’s the situation here?” 

“Everything checks out otherwise but the core is leaking eezo. The leak is not big but it could potentially escalate.” 

“Shit.” I watched as Shepard worried his lip again while Tali rattled off technical jargon that went over even my head despite knowing a thing or two about engineering. I did catch the basics but I had the feeling Shepard understood none of it. 

“In other words, we are grounded, literally, until the leak is repaired and we find more eezo...and fast.” Before Tali could confirm, EDIs voice sounded from the comms. 

__“I’ve run the diagnostics and status of the whole of Normandy, Shepard.”_ _

“Alright, let’s hear it.” Shepard glanced up as if he could see where EDIs voice was coming from. It was a habit shared by us all. 

“ _Aside from the drive core and both of the antiproton thrusters on the port side, the damage is very minimal._ ” EDI went on to explain the damage in more detail and how long she estimated the repairs would take with the right supplies and technicians. Then she went quiet. 

“Somehow I have the feeling the damage report was the good news.” Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. 

“ _Indeed. I have scanned the area and I am absolutely certain we have landed in Boston. However, everything is not as it should be. Apart from small clusters of settlements the surrounding area is a deserted radioactive wasteland._ ” 

A long heavy silence followed EDIs words until I finally managed to speak. 

“How is this possible? The reapers didn’t decimate Boston like they did London. Even Vancouver, Washington and Berlin suffered worse.” 

“ _It is....unclear Admiral._ ” EDI answered sounding as if she knew more but decided not to part with the information. 

“ _That’s putting it lightly!_ ” Jokers strained voice came through the comms and Chackwas berating him before the connection cut. 

I turned to John and suddenly found myself wishing that we had excepted Liaras offer to stay for dinner. Of course, I did realize that the time of departure might had no connection to the malfunction of the relay in any way, but still. Johns brows were knit together in concentration. He lifted his gaze and met mine. I don’t know what he searched and found in my eyes but I could see the moment he made a decision. 

“Whatever the case is and no matter the circumstances we need to get Normandy up and running. No matter the cost. Once we have figured that out we can concentrate on figuring out the rest.” He turned to face Tali, Gabby and Ken. 

“You three. Once Adams has his wrist checked, start on the repairs of the core.” He waited until he got nods from all three and salutes from the two engineers. Then he turned to me and Garrus. 

“You two suit up and get James as well. Let’s see what kind of hell hole we’ve dropped into.” 

We went for the elevator again and John ordered EDI to accompany us as well. In no less than fifteen minutes we were at the airlock next to the cockpit. 

I put my helmet on, along with the others as John opened the airlock and step outside. The very next second, I saw him sidestep and roll away as a hulking figure tried to smash him in the head with a 4 foot plank. 

I couldn’t help but stare at the creature for a heartbeat before I raised my shields and drew my pistol. Taking aim I put two shots between the humanoids eyes. I didn’t have the time to think as the next one attempted to take my head off. I threw him and gave him the same treatment from my pistol as I did the first one. 

The battle was over fairly quickly. The creatures were relatively few in number and their weapons very primitive compared to the finest of the arsenal reserved for the council Spectres. As all nine finally lay dead on the ground, James piped up. 

“Dio! What the hell are these things? Loco?” He put his rifle away and faced John, seeking answers he knew John didn’t have. 

Before he could even guess EDI answered for him. 

“It would seem they were once human.” 

“Now is not a time for jokes muñeca.” James grumbled under his breath as he crouched to inspect one of the green-skinned creatures. 

“What the hell is going on?” Garrus shook his head lightly. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this before the reapers and this is not something they did. These things are too....organic.” I said and John nodded in agreement while poking the toe of his boot at one of the creatures head. 

“You are right.” He said and looked at EDI in hopes of getting some answers. However, the AI was looking up towards the crest of the hill. 

“We are about the get some more company.” She said and all our attention turned to where she was now pointing. 

“Weapons at the ready.” John ordered calmly, drawing his pistol. 

“Do not open fire first. These seem to be human.” I added as I drew my weapon once more with the others and waited as four men and a dog started to slowly descend the hill towards us. 


End file.
